Bally Arcade/Astrocade
Document Collection for Astrocast #14
Collected by Adam Trionfo
April 27, 2020

These are sixteen letters, postcards, notes and even one telegram that were sent to Bob Fabris, editor of the Arcadian newsletter, in the late 1970s/early 1980s.  These letters are covered by Paul Thacker and Adam Trionfo, the hosts of the Bally Alley Astrocast, in podcast #14.  The Astrocast covers the Bally Arcade/Astrocade, a game console released in 1978.

You can listen to the podcast here:

http://ballyalleyastrocast.libsyn.com/podcast

These documents are in pdf format.  Those that were typed have been OCRed but several of these documents are handwritten, so character recognition was not possible.  There is a wealth of information inside of these documents which have been scanned from the Bob Fabris Collection.  Names of the document are listed here, along with extremely terse overviews about what is in some the documents.  The only way to really know what is inside of these documents is to dig into them and read them from start to finish.

The sixteen documents are:

Letter to Bob Fabris (1982)(Lindsay Olsen)(Help with Microtrek).pdf - September 28, 1982.  Needs help with Microtrek by Bill Andrus.  Telegram

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 27 1979)(Brett Bilbrey).pdf - October 27, 1979. University of Michigan in the Office of Individualized Learning. Bally User Group. TRS-80. Compucolor, Life, Dr. Zinn, Creative Computing.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Frank Gfelner)(Oct 14 1979)(VideoBrain Keyboard).pdf - October 14, 1979. Ram upgrade and VideoBrain keyboard.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Nov 21 1979)(Ed Mulholland).pdf -  Postcard.  November 21, 1979. Error with Resequencing by Ron Schweitzer.  Jerry Tindle. Keyboard upgrade.

Arcadian - 10 Programs (Permission Form)(William Andrus).pdf - June 30, 1981. Arcadian - 10 Programs compilation. Signed Microtrek Permission Form.

Letter to Bob Fabris (HO Meyers)(Oct 12 1979).pdf - October 12, 1979. Bill Kopp. Overheating. $35 Bally board replacement.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 14 1979)(Harry Hanson).pdf - October 14, 1979. Postcard.  Discouragement with Bally. A fading Bally Buff.  "Thrown out unit long ago!"

Letter to Bob Fabris (Robert Lilly)(Oct 15 1979).pdf - October 15, 1979. Survey Response. Checkers bug. Heathkit H-8. Heathkit H-11a.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 15 1979)(Bernard Haberman).pdf - October 15, 1979. Survery Response. Montgomery Ward unit. Failed unit. Checkers error or bug. Serial Number 8,845.
 
Letter to Bob Fabris (George Tucker)(Oct 16 1979).pdf - October 16, 1979.  Letter with a short, 4-line BASIC program that makes a gunshot.  ZGrass.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 18 1979)(Stuart Zolten)(DigiTrends).pdf - October 18, 1979. Digitrends, Inc from Cleveland, Ohio. Carries Bally software and hardware. Mentions the Mattel Intellivision keyboard.

Concentration - Division - Hex Dump (October 20 1979)(Anson Winsor)(BASIC Listings).pdf - October 20, 1979. A four-page, typed letter with explanations and information about the 6 pages of handwritten BASIC listings for three programs: Concentration, Division to "N" Decimal Places and Hex Dump.  These programs were never published in the Arcadian.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 22 1979)(Phil Shafer).pdf - October 22, 1979. New cartridge releases.  PA-1 Service Manual. Executive Manual.  Space Invaders and Bally Pin will be out soon.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Herb Weintraub)(Oct 24 1979).pdf - October 24, 1979.  Short program that is a variation of the Arcadian program on page 57. Classified Ad. Wanted business programs written for a small quick printer. Instant printing.  This letter is addressed to: Robert Fabris, Staff, Boss, Proofreader, Stapler, folder, stamp licker, typist.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Oct 29 1979)(Larry Schmitt).pdf - October 29, 1979. Bally Arcade used as a premium and gift. Disappointment with Bally promotion and advertisements. Bally Buffs.  Hard-to-read letter. Dead Astrocade. Inside info on Zgrass. Drag Race.

Letter to Bob Fabris (Guy McLimore Jr)(Oct 29 1979).pdf - October 29, 1979.  ABC Hobbycraft. JE610 Keyboard. Distribution. Tim Hays of Seebree's Computing.  Medieval fair.  No new carts in over six months.

Enjoy the documents and have fun!

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